In Australia go to http://www.bircagesoft.com.au and download their free weather stats program...it is down the bottom of the page after a heap of music shareware stuff.
It pulls its info from the BOM site but puts it in a handy little table format with wind speed/gusts/direction etc. The Gold Coast Seaway station updates every 10 mins, some others are half hourly (depends on how often BOM updates) It works for wherever there is a BOM station.

you can have a look at several web cams accross all Australian states. It is often worth while having a look to see how the swell is. So if you combine it with http://www.seabreeze.com.au and http://www.bom.gov.au you can make a really good selection of the beaches to go.